95-97 % of the world's precious opal comes from Australia. Precious opal is different from common opal because of its "play of color" . You can see flashes of color as it is turned. This gemstone is drop dead gorgeous when it also displays adularescence, a form of iridescence.

Now watch the Australian owner of Broken River opal miner crack open veined rocks! Sue Cooper is the female opal miner who shares the excitement in seeing the exposed opal for the first time!

Broken River Mining explains :"Boulder opal is term used to describe precious opal that occurs in 'veins' or 'pockets' in ironstone boulders. It is only found in one part of the world - Queensland, Australia."

This is a small company which uses environmentally responsible mining practices.  I have no association with them but I love seeing their reveals of this lovely gemstone!  Nature's art.

Reveal #1



Reveal # 2



And here is a demo on how they cut the opal for jewelry making :



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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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